Apple Warns Skyfire Downloaders About Porn

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Matt Rosoff, a writer for Business Insider, reported that when he went to download the new Skyfire for iPhone app last week from the Apple App Store, a message popped up warning him about adult content. The app, which reportedly sold out hours after is debuted last week, lets users watch Flash videos on the device.

Shortly after its launch, we reported on Wired’s conclusion that the app 'sold out' precisely because people wanted to use it to surf porn sites, many of which still offer Flash video only. At the time, the Wired writer, Brian X. Chen, did not mention a warning from Apple in his story, but it could be that Apple took his conclusion to heart and added it as an afterthought.

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Whenever it was put there, though, Rosoff says that the purpose of the message, which did not mention any other reason why people should be concerned about downloading an app that is otherwise content neutral, was more than apparent.

“Apple assumes that the main reason you'd want to have Flash on your iPhone is to watch porn,” he wrote, adding, “To be sure Apple didn't have a more reasonable objection, I installed the app on my iPhone4. It doesn't contain any preloaded adult content or suggestive graphics, and the ‘related content’ feature doesn't seem to favor adult content. However, Skyfire does have a private browsing function and other built-in privacy options, like Log Out of Facebook, that could make it easy to cover your tracks. (This is a bad thing?)”